Scholars Day: April 10, 2013

People First Terminology: Changing Societal Perceptions of Individuals with Disabilities

Over the years to this day, people who live with disabilities or impairments have been identified as their disability, instead of being identified as a person first. Words such as “retarded,” “handicapped,” and “disabled” are just a few examples that have plagued society’s perception of such individuals and is responsible in some ways for the exclusion of these individuals. The goals of this presentation are: (1) to increase awareness that people who live with disabilities are people first and accept them as such, (2) develop a greater awareness that individuals with disabilities are capable of accomplishing certain tasks, in unique ways and ultimately, (3) decrease the usage of potentially offensive jargon used to describe those individuals (i.e. “retarded,” “handicapped,” and “disabled”) and accept that person as the regular citizen of their communities as they are, in addition to making communities as inclusive as possible.